Higher rates of serious injuries for Māori from vehicle crashes and assaults

4 October 2018

Māori are more likely to suffer serious non-fatal injuries from vehicle crashes and assaults, but less likely from falls, compared with the total population, Stats NZ said today.

Provisional data released today showed Māori had around the same age-standardised rate of serious non-fatal injuries compared with the total population in 2017. However, there were significant differences in the causes of these injuries.

“Examining serious injuries using different breakdowns helps identify high-risk areas and inform injury prevention strategies in New Zealand,” government injury information manager, James Clarke said.

Māori had significantly higher rates of serious non-fatal injuries from motor-vehicle crashes relative to the total population in 2017. The rate of 67.8 injuries per 100,000 people for Māori is 67 percent greater than the rate for the total population.

There was an even greater difference for injuries from assaults, with a rate of 37.0 serious injuries per 100,000 people for Māori, compared with 12.6 for the total population.

In contrast, the rate of serious injuries from falls was much lower for Māori – 49.5 injuries per 100,000 people, compared with 109.2 for the total population. However, injuries from falls have been generally increasing for Māori since 2009.

The rate of serious non-fatal motor-vehicle crash injuries for Māori has significantly increased since 2014. From 2007 to 2014, the rate had been decreasing. Assault injuries for Māori have also gradually increased since 2014.

“While we’ve seen a general increase in these types of serious injuries across the whole population in the last few years, the size of the increase has been far greater for Māori,” said Mr Clarke.

Serious injuries from falls, self-harm, and vehicle crashes increase has more information about serious injuries across the whole population.

The overall rate of serious non-fatal injuries for Māori has been increasing since 2014, with an estimated rate of 208.1 injuries per 100,000 people in 2017 – the highest ever recorded for this group. In comparison, the total population had an overall rate of 205.3 injuries per 100,000 people.

Serious non-fatal injuries are those in which a patient admitted to hospital is determined to have a probability of death of 6.9 percent or more.

Serious injury outcome indicators: 2000–17 contains serious injury statistics for children, Māori, and the whole population.

The Government Statistician authorises all statistics and data we publish.

For more information about these statistics:

• Visit Serious injury outcome indicators: 2000–17
• See Serious injuries from falls, self-harm, and vehicle crashes increase
• See CSV files for download

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